First World War
1914 On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serbian student and member of young Bosnia, assassinated the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne Francesco Ferdinando in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Thus began a period of diplomatic maneuver between Austria, Germany, Italy, Russia, France and Great Britain, called the July crisis. Austria delivered an ultimatum to Serbia with a series of ten requests. When Serbia accepted only eight of ten, Austria with the support of Germany declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. Russia intervened in support of Serbia, thus bringing France to war. Italy and Great Britain decided to remain temporarily neutral. The strategy of the Central Empires was mainly based on first eliminating Russia from the war, taking advantage of its long preparation times and maintaining defensive positions in France and Serbia, this until the fall of Russia. After the fall of the latter, the Central Empires could concentrate in the west and south; where already the French and the Serbs will have consumed much of their war material and thus facilitate their capitulation. The Serbian army from 12 to 19 August fought the Battle of Cer by defeating the Austro-Hungarians. This was the only significant offensive in Serbia. Over the next two weeks the rest of the Serbian attacks were repelled. Isolated and poorly armed Serbia did not have much maneuver and did very little after the Battle of Cer. At the outbreak of the war, the German army consisting of seven field armies in the west sent five to the eastern front. The French offensive in Germany, launched on August 7 with the battle of Mülhausen, had limited success. To the east, a single field army defended East Prussia and when Russia attacked in this region, it diverted German forces destined for the western front. Germany defeated Russia in a series of battles known as the First Battle of Tannenberg (17 August - 2 September), but this diversion exacerbated the problems of insufficient speed of advance from the railway chiefs not foreseen by the German General Staff. The Central Empires were therefore denied a swift victory. What the Central Empires wanted, or a blitzkrieg, turned out to be a long and bloody war of attrition. 1915 Meanwhile, the Allies aimed to break through on their respective fronts. On 22 April 1915, the Germans decided to attack France at the Battle of Nancy, despite deciding to stay on the defensive. The Germans (in violation of the Hague Convention) first used chlorine gas on the Western Front. Well. Germany and Austria understood that a new front had to be opened to divert French attention from the Franco-German front. Germany pushed Austria to reach an agreement with Italy to obtain its belligerence on the side of the Central Empires (with which it was still bound by the Triple Alliance). Austria eventually decided to accept the Italian demands that were: Trento, Gorizia, Trieste, the Dalmatian islands and, in the event of victory, a protectorate over Albania. On 26 April, the Vienna Pact was signed, with Italy pledging to go to war alongside the Central Empires on 24 May. Italy's entry into the war made the situation worse in France, which was already critical enough. The latter had to move some of its troops to Italy, making the German front more vulnerable. Italy decided to stay on the defensive and attack France when it was necessary. Seeing the situation French, in order to avoid a possible victory of the Central Empires, Britain declares war on the Central Empires. As soon as the war had entered the war, Britain made preparations to attack Constantinople and take control of the Dardanelles Strait. France, thanks to the British troops, immediately set out to start Genoa and Aosta. The fighting, however, took place in the Alps, and given their impracticality the fighting was often very long and bloody. It was very difficult to stipulate winners and losers. Trench warfare was also implemented in this new front. The resignation of Winston Churchill from the British government. The Central Empires achieved success in the East, pushing the Russians into Belarus. Meanwhile in Russia the Russian workforce, production and army remained strong, but the losses had been enormous. In September, Bulgaria joins the Central Empires and the combined Austro-Bulgarian forces lead within two months to the capitulation of Serbia which in fact becomes the first allied nation to fall. 1915 ended with the fall of the Italian-German colonies overseas. Great Britain occupied the colonies in Africa of Italy and Germany, Australia occupied German Guinea and the German islands present there, while Japan occupied the port of Tsingtao. 1916 In January, Montenegro also fell into Austrian hands. From the beginning of the year both sides began to plan assaults: Germany aimed to reduce the workforce French through a war of attrition, while the Intesa aimed to break through on the Somme and Piedmont. They planned to resist while several Russian armies planned attacks. May 31 ended with both sides proclaiming victory. Brusilov's initial successful offensive destroyed the Austrian army and on the Western Front began the Battle of the Somme. The Somme offensive proved immensely costly from the start, even with the first deployment of tanks in battle. In Piedmont, the Franco-English forces clash with the Italian forces. The battle ended with the break-in French into Italian territory, conquering the cities of Aosta and Imperia, at a high cost of human lives. The battles of the Somme and Piedmont cost about one and a half million men for both sides, with an unappreciated territorial gain. 1917 1917 began with renewed calls within the German navy to authorise an unrestricted submarine war in order to starve Britain. bring the United States to war. However, von Bethmann-Hollweg was determined to keep the United States neutral and managed to bring the Kaiser to his own point of view. characterized the early years of the war. At the beginning of the year, neither side was very confident about its strategic position. the Chancellor that "the military position could not be worse than it is." The resurgence of Russian fortune in 1916 caused many German units to move east, leaving the Western Front dangerously vulnerable. Somme had left most of the German lines too large and vulnerable, while Austria had suffered a heavy beating in the Brusilov offensive and was plagued by nationalist unrest in its territories. imposed by the British was beginning to run out of resources. The Ottoman Empire was slowly crumbling in the face of the Russian offensives, which had driven the Turks out of much of Armenia. The Somme had shown how useless massive head-on assaults could be, with hundreds of thousands of deaths for little gain. The army French had entrenched itself in the two conquered cities, but was under increasing pressure from Italy. On the Western Front, Germany began the year with a complete retreat back to the Hindenburg Line - a huge system of fortifications. but he loses many men. This led to Nivelle's downfall. Pétain became head of the French armies. The first task was to suppress the widespread mutiny that now erupt between the French army, something to which he proved very capable. in the army French which dismissed the great offensives as a huge human and war waste. He decided to focus on defense, ending the French offensive until the end of the year. The Tsar abdicated in March, leading to the creation of the provisional government, which ruled only until early November when the Bolsheviks overthrew him, thus initiating the Russian civil war. Italian front, where the joint Italian-Austrian forces, with the great offensive at Annecy in October brought the French behind the Alps; leading to the occupation of the entire Savoy region; eliminating a half-million-dollar number of men. The morale French collapsed, and even by that. They did not expect such a power, Italy and Austria also lost hundreds of thousands of men. However, the army French, despite staggering to the brink of collapse, miraculously recovered and maintained the line of the Arc River. Mesopotamia by British troops. The attacks did not have the desired success by bringing with them thousands of soldiers, which is why Cadorna was replaced by Armando Diaz. In the last months of 1917, Allenby broke defenses around Gaza and captured Jerusalem. 1918 1918 opened with the mutilated blockade, Russia on the verge of quitting the war altogether and Germany able to reverse the trend. At the beginning of March, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between Germans and Bolsheviks was signed. Both sides could see more closely both victory and defeat. However, the effects of the British blockade were becoming increasingly intolerable and even the Ottoman Empire seemed to slowly collapse. Romania, despite being neutral. Surprisingly, the German High Command has chosen to maintain a defensive position for the year. The Central Empires hoped that, with the collapse of Russia and the opening of its resources, particularly to Ukraine, they would alleviated the worst effects of the blockade. In addition, it would give them time to prepare for a major offensive (then dubbed "Spring Offensive") combined in France in 1919 with overwhelming force. Meanwhile, the Intesa decided that a massive offensive was needed in the West before Germany and Italy could strengthen themselves with the newly returned Eastern divisions. for March and predicted an almost simultaneous push on no less than five different points along the fronts. Unfortunately it proved impossible to get a surprise with such a large attack. the attack was finally launched, it got bogged down immediately. The strong defences of the Hindenberg Line proved too strong for the forces of the Intent. The attack turned out to be an expensive loss of manpower and men, with more than 800,000 victims of the Intesa. Allenby's forces staged a massive attack on Turkish positions in September. Syria. The remnants of the Turkish forces, quickly reinforced by three German divisions, two Italian, one Bulgarian and one Austrian, retreated to Asia Minor, planning to dig and defend the mountain passes on the central plateau of Anatolia. 1918 - War at sea The beginning of the year marked the end of the post-Jutland stalemate and it seemed that the Intesa had had the upper hand. Developments in the field of naval aviation. Many observers believed that the German deep-sea fleet would ride the war in to the port for fear of the RN, however in the first week of November the HSF went overboard out of sheer desperation in the final attempt to break the British blockade. Under the command of Admiral von Hipper, the HSF managed to secure a remarkable victory over the RN on the 11th of that month in what became known as the Second Battle of Jutland. Loss of an overpriced RN was enough to force them back into port. The year ended with the HSF ready to roam the Atlantic at will and with the RN licking the wounds at Scapa Flow. The Perpetual War in France 1919-1921 1919 The planning of the Spring Offensive by Germany and Italy lasted for over a year. Before the Spring Offensive began, Germany carried out the Schlieffen plan, which consists of the invasion of Belgium and Luxembourg, to circumvent the defences of the Intent. Luxembourg practically capitulates immediately. Anglo-French troops arrived in Belgium, but they can't do anything in front of the new German war machine. In just two days of fighting the Germans capture the fortresses of Liège, from there the road to Brussels is paved. Brussels falls after a week of bloody clashes. Belgium surrenders to Germany. The Spring Offensive could now be launched. On 2 March the Germans begin to descend from the north of France at an inexorable speed. The Battle of Verdun begins, the longest and bloodiest of the Entire Spring Offensive. The French are resisting, and despite the fallen men Germany does not pass. Meanwhile on the Italian front, Italy easily occupied Tolone in June, as much of the French army had moved to Verdun. In July Italy began another offensive and, thanks also to the Austrian troops, it broke through in France conquering Lyon and Avignon. Italy was on the outskirts of Marseille, but the strenuous resistance of three Canadian troops halted the offensive. Thanks to total control of the Mediterranean, the British Empire supplied those troops. Despite this, Marseille surrendered to the Italians after two months. The Italians began to besiege Arles, but here too the British fleet supplied those troops. In all this the Austrians were determined to conquer Montpellier. In December, the Battle of Verdun ended, with the defensive victory French and a terrible German defeat. Despite the victory French, both sides lost a million men each, ending the fight if they can be said to be tied. Germany decided to stop and regained strength and hoped that the Italians would be able to keep the French occupied. In Ireland, thanks in part to Germany, a rebellion broke out, which later became a war of independence. 1920 The year began with an Italian offensive in Saint Etienne, which quickly got bogged down as the French and English had recently arrived from Verdun. The Austrians came to support them in Italy. The battle lasted weeks, but the soldiers were exhausted by Verdun and were defeated. Bulgarian troops arrived at the German front to give the Germans a boost to continue the Spring Offensive, which resumed after a few days. The Bulgarians gave the Germans a hand, providing them with the essentials, as far as they could, and they both resumed attacking. The French, who had moved most of the troops to the Italian front, did not expect such a rapid German recovery and lost ground. The Germans began to descend, occupying Amiens after two months of fighting with civilians and British Commonwealth troops. The army French retreats, decimated by desertions and desperately manages to stop the Germans at the last moment on the Marne. The Allied divisions piled up as quickly as possible on the Marna line to avoid a German breakthrough. The badly organized, exhausted and mismanaged Intesa army was easily annihilated by the German-Bulgarians, despite being less. The Germans began encircling Paris in early May. Here they stopped to plan their next offensive. Paris and Montpellier were under siege. In the end, after long fighting lasting months Montpellier falls on the first of August. On October 4, Paris fell, but France, despite Paris in German hands and the Italians who continued to press, decided not to give up. Petain rewrote and re-revolutionized the battle plans by changing strategies and implementing Anglo-French colonial troops in the army. The French Provisional Military Government, a Republican-military government, was established. The Central Powers were convinced that France would surrender from there, but that did not happen. They decided to move most of the troops to Turkey, where the British were chopping the remaining Ottoman army. This was a huge mistake and cost the Central Empires the momentary loss in France. They failed because of the newly arrived Central Empire troops. The Intesa was back on the outskirts of Paris. The morale French was wonderfully rising. The war deserters decided to return to fight for their country. The Central Powers, were incredulous at the resumption of France. They hurriedly decided to return Austrian and German troops to the French fronts, while the Italian and Bulgarian troops fought British troops in Mesopotamia. As the Austro-German troops marched to the French fronts, the Intesa found a slight but effective defense in Paris that remained in German hands, but only for a short time. A relapse of Paris would mark the Central Empires in a very negative way. The Intesa thought they had made it, and was convinced that they would be able to take Paris and force the Central Empires into an unconditional surrender. The troops of the newly returned Central Empires blocked the advance French. The hopes of the Intesa were shattered when the Central Empires were lowered from Paris on 23 November. The French government decided not to give up anyway. Convinced that he can turn the tide of the war, he promulgates that until all the cities have fallen into enemy hands he will not give up, but the people are not there and the strikes against the war increase by the day. More bad news for the Intent comes from Mesopotamia, where the Joint Italian-Bulgarian forces have finally repelled British troops from Mesopotamia. The little Ottoman army reinforced by the Bulgarian army can stand alone in Suez since the British forces are concentrated in France. The defense of the Ottoman Empire was in good hands and the Italian troops were able to return to their homeland. 1921 On January 21, the Battle of Orleans began, which lasted until March. Both armies run out of a huge number of war materials and lose half a million men both. The city eventually falls into German hands. The French retreat and hastily build a strong defensive line. The Germans attack, but the French resist. The Central Empires realize that France was engaged in a war of attrition. Petain and Allenby had studied this strategy in the hope that it would work. The Central Empires hoped to break through in France via Italy, where the border is not very reinforced, and there were fewer troops. The intention was to attack first from Italy to divert attention from the German front, and then attack from there. The intention, however, fails when both Italy and Germany do not pass by losing an immense amount of men. France still believes that it can turn the tide of the war, playing on the fact that with all these victims, the German and Italian people had rebelled, which was partly beginning to happen. But the people and the army French are tired and exhausted by war. You starve to death, all the material is sent to the fronts. The Central Empires plan a last and huge offensive, later known as the "Second Spring Offensive", the largest of the war; a last-ditch attempt to finally eliminate France. It is a very high-risk operation, in fact, if it were to fail it would deliver the victory in the hands of the Cartel. On May 6, taking advantage of the rebellions and strikes everywhere the Central Empires launched with all their might these combined attacks from both sides. The offensive began to succeed, in fact city after city began to fall into the hands of the Central Empires. The region of Brittany was cut off, and half a million men were surrounded and eliminated. The Germans go down to Nantes, but thanks to the Loire the Germans do not pass. This event was later called the "Miracle of the Loire". This miracle, however, lasts little, in fact the Germans manage to pass the same after a few weeks. Italy manages to climb back from Lyon and joins the two fronts, creating one, much stronger. The Battle of the Central Massif begins, the longest and bloodiest of the entire offensive. The battles are reminiscent of those of the Alps. They were mainly employed alpine and daring Italian. A kind of trench warfare was carried out mixed with the war of movement. France was doomed, but still manages to eliminate part of the enemy army. Despite this heroic action, the Central Empires pass the same. Intesa managed to achieve a small success, in fact the Italians from Montpellier could not pass, and lost many men. The Germans besiegeD Limoges, and despite the strenuous defense, even by civilians the Germans pass, but at the cost of a hundred thousand men. The Germans are aiming for Bordeaux, but the Intesa resists on the Dordogne River. The Germans stop to prepare for the final assault. This pause allowed many Intesa troops to evacuate from Bordeaux. When the Germans attacked Bordeaux, the last city left standing, they did not find much resistance and the few soldiers present there were annihilated. Bordeaux fell on October 2, 1921. France, now destroyed and expelled from Europe, at this point is obliged to sign the surrender with the Central Empires. Britain decided to continue the war at sea. Despite the various naval victories, Great Britain realized that it posed no threat to the Central Empires, which were victorious throughout Europe. The only outlet on the mainland was from Suez, where the Ottomans had entrenched themselves well and waited for the British. The rest of the Troops of the Central Empires were beginning to arrive there. A march across Europe from Turkey would result in the loss of millions of men, and it was not even certain that it could reach Europe, but by now Britain had also reached the limit. Too many victims from a lost war. The naval blockade was now obsolete. Strength at sea was not enough to eliminate Germany. In the end, to avoid a breakthrough in Egypt and thus increase the gravity of the defeat, on 11 December 1921 both sides met in Vienna to sign the peace and give the new structure to Europe. Several treaties were concluded. Peace Treaties The BREST-LITOVSK TREATY was confirmed: The Baltic Duchy United Union between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuanian was established, becoming a puppet state of Germany headed by Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich von Mecklenburg. The Kingdom of Belarus became a German puppet state, the Kaiser's brother Heinrich ascended the throne, becoming King Genrikh I. Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Finland and Kingdom of Ukraine passed under German influence and protection. In Poland a german king ascended the throne, in Finland Kaiser's brother-in-law Friedrich-Karl von Hessen became king, while in Ukraine Austrian Archduke Wilhelm Franz ascended the throne. TREATY OF BERLIN: The German Empire annexes a part of southern Belgium, the Belgian Congo and Luxembourg. It gets from France the rest of Alsace-Lorraine, Central Africa, Madagascar, the comoros islands and Indochina. TREATY OF VIENNA: The Austro-Hungarian Empire annexes Serbia and Montenegro. Gets Ivory Coast, Congo, Benin and Gabon from France TREATY OF ROME: The Kingdom of Italy obtains Savoy, Nice, Corsica, Tunisia and Djibouti from France. As per the Vienna pact, Italy obtains the protectorate over Albania. INSTAMBUL TREATY: The Ottoman Empire gets from Britain Cyprus and Kuwait SOFIA TREATY: The Kingdom of Bulgaria obtains Macedonia from Serbia TREATY OF PARIS: France was accused of being responsible for the conflict, had to pay 50 billion marks to the Central Empires, had to reduce the army to just 100,000 men and demilitarize the German-Italian borders DUBLIN PEACE: Britain decided to end the war with Ireland, granting it independence. Northern Ireland remained in British hands. In Ireland, a pro-German kingdom was proclaimed, led by Michael Collins.